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- There are large disparities in the asset holdings of American families. The households with the highest incomes have median assets of $808,100—48 times more assets than the $17,000 in median assets held by the lowest-income families.
Read more facts - The typical minority family holds total assets of $60,000, or a little more than one-quarter of the assets held by the average white family ($224,500). In fact, 67 percent of minority households have no retirement account, and 94 percent have no business equity.
Read more facts - Of all U.S. households, 20 percent (22.2 million families) are “unbanked.” Nearly 70 percent of the unbanked earn less than $15,000, and only about three percent have a college degree. Of unbanked households, 93 percent are nonwhite.
Read more facts - Between the years of 1992 and 2004, families headed by persons without a high school diploma saw their net worth decline 16 percent, from $24,600 to $20,600, while college graduates saw a 74 percent increase, from $129,800 to $226,100.
Read more facts - Total household debt has exceeded total personal income since 2003. Home mortgages make up a growing share of this outstanding debt, increasing from 65 percent in 2000 to 73 percent in 2006.
Read more facts - More than one-fourth of the lowest-income families have made debt service payments that exceeded 40 percent of family income.
Read more facts - Payday lenders cost American families $4.2 billion every year in predatory fees. Borrowers who receive five or more loans a year account for 90 percent of the payday lenders’ business.
Read more facts - A foreclosure on a home lowers the price of other nearby single-family homes an average of 0.9 percent. Each additional foreclosure on the block lowers home values an additional 0.9 percent, on average. The impact is even higher in lower-income neighborhoods, where each foreclosure dropped home values by an average of 1.44 percent.
Read more facts - A survey on teenagers and money reports that only 45 percent of teens know how to use a credit card, and 26 percent understand credit card interest and fees. Only one in three teenagers knows how to read a bank statement, balance a checkbook, and pay bills. Barely one in five has any idea how to invest.
Read more facts - The number of 18- to 24-year olds declaring bankruptcy has increased 96 percent in 10 years.
Read more facts - At least $552 million has been invested in individual development account asset purchases since 1999, including more than $223 million in federal and state appropriations, $65 million in participant personal savings, and $104 million in nonfederal matching funds.
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